Report: 4M Fewer Cars On Road In 2009

Last year saw the number of cars on U.S. roads fall by roughly 4 million, according to a new report.

The Earth Policy Institute reported that the 14 million cars scrapped in 2009 exceeded the 10 million in ew car sales.

The decline represents a 2 percent contraction in just one year. The U.S. fleet, totaling 250 million vehicles in 2008, dropped to 246 million over the course of last year.

Lester Brown, president of the institute, which is a nonprofit focused on sustainability issues, thinks this shrinkage will continue over the next decade for several reasons.

"One is market saturation," Brown said. "The United States now has 246 million registered motor vehicles and 209 million licensed drivers -- nearly five vehicles for every four drivers. Other reasons for the U.S. car fleet shrinkage are ongoing urbanization, economic uncertainty, oil insecurity, the prospect of higher gasoline prices, the rising costs of traffic congestion, mounting concerns about climate change, and the declining interest in cars among young people who have grown up in cities."

Another potential cause contributing to the decline is the economy itself. With less money, more people may be dropping extra cars, either de-registering vehicles they do not use to save on the insurance or scrapping second or third vehicles rather than paying for major repairs.

The federal "Cash for Clunkers" program, which last summer gave consumers a rebate of up to $4,500 for trading in older cars and light trucks, led to the scrapping of more than 700,000 vehicles. But since the incentive was only available to consumers who bought new fuel-sipping vehicles, it did not affect the ratio of scrapped vehicles to new sales.

Fewer cars on U.S. roads combined with gains in fuel efficiency will steadily reduce U.S. oil consumption and carbon emissions, Brown said. It will also set the stage for increased investment in public transit and high-speed intercity rail, he said.

The report used data from the Federal Highway Administration and R.L. Polk & Company, an automotive marketing and research firm based in Southfield, Mich.